Motor vehicle accidents result in tens of millions of people being injured, disabled or even dying throughout the world each year. It has been estimated that motor vehicle accidents cause over 1.3 million worldwide deaths each year or over 3000 deaths each day. In addition to the human tragedy, road crashes cost over $500 billion globally per year. In the United States alone over 37,000 people die on road crashes each year and an additional 2.3 million are injured or disabled. Clearly the seriousness of the situation requires diligent efforts to reduce motor vehicle accidents. Vehicle design, roadway engineering, police and law enforcement efforts and technological improvements in vehicle safety and warning systems are all important areas. See, for example, Association for Safe International Road Travel, 2002-2016. http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics.
This invention addresses this growing and serious problem through an innovative combination of technologies and advanced information gathering and processing methods in a comprehensive integrated motor vehicle danger warning and control system. Information from automotive sensors, passenger activity sensors, driver medical condition sensors, roadway condition sensors, pedestrian congestion and traffic measurement sensors are combined in an integrated system making use of artificial intelligence expert systems to derive motor vehicle warning and control signals with the goal of minimizing the occurrence of accidents while maintaining driver communication capabilities to report dangerous situations requiring immediate assistance. In this invention, artificial intelligence expert systems technology simulates human reasoning to derive logical responses to dangerous driving situations by integrating large amounts of information into informative driver warnings and motor vehicle control signals.
A particular concern in motor vehicle safety is the increased use of cellular telephone technology. Recent studies indicated that by the end of 2015 there were as many as seven billion cellular telephones worldwide. This compares to an equal worldwide population of about seven billion people. While this universal adaptation of cellular telephone technology has led to many improvements in the quality of life to billions of people, it has, at the same time, introduced several unique problems with serious consequences resulting from improper use of cellular telephones.
A particular area of concern involves the use of cellular telephones or other wireless devices while driving motor vehicles. For example, the National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that, in the United States, 21 percent of crashes or 1.2 million crashes in 2013 involved talking on handheld and hands-free cell phones. The NSC also estimates an additional 6 percent or more of crashes or a minimum of 341,000 of crashes in 2013 involved text messaging. Thus the NSC estimates a minimum of 27% of crashes involve drivers talking and texting on cell phones. These alarming statistics led to the NSC's call for a ban on cell phone voice and texting use while driving. See National Safety Council, “Annual Estimate of Cell Phone Crashes—2013,” © NCS report, 2015, page 1.
Furthermore, recent studies have concluded that uses of cellular telephones for voice communication or texting are only part of the problem. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Study has published a report stating that it has been estimated that driver inattention has accounted for 25% of all police reported crashes. Other studies indicate that such inattention was a factor in 78% of all crashes or near crashes making it the single largest crash causation factor. See AAA “Measuring Cognitive Distraction in the Automobile,” AAA Foundation for Traffic Study, June, 2013, page 4. The AAA study concluded that on a cognitive distraction scale, driver conversations with other passengers in a motor vehicle, the use of hand-held cellular telephones and the use of hands-free cellular telephones all give rise to about equal cognitive distraction. In all three of these cases cognitive distraction varied from 2.27 to 2.45 times that of non-distracted, single task driving conditions. The use of speech-to-text technology increases cognitive distraction to about three times that of non-distracted, single task driving conditions. Interestingly, hands-free cellular telephone technology offers minimal cognitive distraction advantage over the use of hand-held cellular telephones and rates only slightly better than having a conversation with other passengers in the vehicle. See above AAA study, page 28. See also, NSC, “Understanding the distracted brain—Why driving while using hands-free cell phones is risky behavior.” National Safety Council White Paper, April, 2012.
The seriousness of the situation has led to various technological suggestions for reducing or eliminating the use of cellular telephones by drivers while operating a motor vehicle while still allowing other passengers in that vehicle to use their cellular telephones for voice calls and texting in a normal manner. Prior art systems and methods attempting to address this need include the following:
Joel Vidal and Yael Vidal, U.S. Pat. No. 8,538,402, “Phone That Prevents Texting While Driving,” is directed in part to determination that a user of the phone is sitting in a driver seat of a moving vehicle based on captured images and/or contextual analysis of voice or text messages. Use is also made of GPS location information and possibly other parameters to control cellular telephone usage.
Saled Tadayon and Maryam Halavi, U.S. Pat. No. 8,145,199, “Controlling Mobile Device Functions,” assigned to BT Patent LLC, is directed in part to controlling mobile device functions by limiting or disabling features which may cause distractions to the user including the use of cellular telephones for voice or texting purposes. Use is made of a coded signal transmission from a transmitter in the vehicle to assist in determining that the cellular telephone of concern in the moving vehicle is being used by the driver of that vehicle.
Curtis A. Vock and Perry Youngs, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/818,044 (Publication No. 20100323615) and 20130288744, are directed in part to a mobile device that includes a GPS sensor and a motion module that disables communication through the mobile device when in motion. A limited range transmitter/receiver configuration is used to assist in the determination that the mobile device of concern is being used by the driver of a moving vehicle.
Robert L. Mendenhall, et. al., “Intra-vehicular Mobile Device Usage Detection System and Method of Using the Same,” U.S. Pat. No. 8,295,890 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,060,150 are both directed in part to the use of a directional antenna in a vehicle configured and positioned to detect mobile device radio signals from the driver area in the vehicle with storage of mobile device usage data that may be useful to the trucking, train, bus, and mass transit industries in order to educate drivers about the dangers associated with using mobile devices while driving.
Camp, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,917, “Method for safe operation of mobile phone in a car environment,” is directed in part to electronic equipment utilizing a wireless signal to communicate, including determining if the electronic equipment is operated within a moving vehicle based on a characteristic of the wireless signal and inhibiting operation of the electronic equipment if the electronic equipment is in a moving vehicle. Possible use of near field communication sensors (NFC) to determine if the driver is using the electronic device is discussed.
Abramson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,750,853, “Sensor-based determination of user role, location, and/or state of one or more in-vehicle mobile devices and enforcement of usage thereof,” is directed in part to analysis of one or more inputs originating at one or more sensors of one or more devices in a in a moving vehicle to assist in determination of vehicle class, the in-vehicle location, hand held state of a mobile device with systems and methods for restricting operation of a mobile device, including restrictions that impede operation by a driver more so than operation by a passenger. Possible use of near field communication sensors (NFC) to determine if the driver is using the electronic device is discussed.
Slusar, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,086,948, “Telematics based on handset movement within a moving vehicle,” is directed in part to a system for providing telematics data associated with a vehicle being driven by a driver obtained by tracking the movements of a wireless communications device of a driver of the vehicle. The telematics data may provide, among other things, speed, acceleration, deceleration, times of operation, duration of operation, mileage driven per day, and day of the week the vehicle has been used. Possible use of near field communication sensors (NFC) to determine if the driver is using the wireless communications device is mentioned.
Xiao, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,816, “Limiting mobile device services in an automobile,” is directed in part to a system for determining whether a mobile communication device is in a driver compartment of an automobile. The method may include determining whether the automobile is in motion or not in motion. Further, the method may include redirecting a call to the mobile communication device when the mobile communication device is in the driver compartment and the automobile is in motion. Possible use of near field communication sensors (NFC) to determine if the driver is using the wireless communications device is mentioned.
Additional prior art directed to technologies useful in some embodiments of the present invention includes:    M. Brandstein and D. Ward, “Microphone Arrays,” Springer, Berlin, Germany and New York, 2001, dealing with the configuration and theoretical foundations of microphone arrays.    J. Benesty, et. al., “Microphone Array Signal Processing,” Springer, Berlin, Germany and New York, 2008, dealing with the configuration and theoretical foundations of microphone arrays and digital signal processing of signals produced from such arrays.    Chen, C. H., “Fuzzy Logic and Neural Network Handbook,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996.    Cox, C., “The Fuzzy Systems Handbook,” Academic Press Inc., 1994.
All of the above are incorporated herein by reference.
New and improved systems and methods are needed to reduce or eliminate dangerous driving situations involving cognitive distractions including distracting conversations with vehicle passengers or the use of telecommunication devices or cellular telephones for voice communications or texting and that also take into account dangerous driving conditions including, for example, dangerous roads, traffic congestion, pedestrian traffic, day/night driving, weather conditions as well as motor vehicle condition including, for example, possible brake problems, tire problems, automotive engine problems or other motor vehicle problems that may contribute to increased accident probability. More particularly, none of the above prior art systems or methods make use of artificial intelligence with expert system analysis involving combinations of motor vehicle motion sensor technology, directional RF antenna technology, near field communications technology, microphone array technology with acoustic beamforming and noise cancellation, speech-to-text technology, image analysis, driver medical emergency situations and integration of vehicle telematics reporting vehicle safety problems. What is needed is a totally integrated operational electronic system that takes advantage of these modern technologies to reduce motor vehicle accidents and injury to passengers and/or pedestrians resulting from driver cognitive distractions, dangerous road and driving conditions, and motor vehicle problems while still ensuring a driver may use cellular telephone or other wireless communication devices to report medical conditions or critical driving situations requiring immediate assistance.